Hole in that skull looks like it could have been made by an arrow or a roman javelin.

Or, more likely than a Roman javelin, a spear. The spear was used in most, if not all, European cultures, eventually becoming totemic enough to be
understood as being the 'weapon of choice' and most associated with the Wodanaz complex (Woden, Wotan, Odin etc).

I hate to admit that I have no resources to confirm if whether or not the Vikings actually used any weapons like this but when I saw that hole this
type of implement was the first thing that came to mind, Seems like an efficient way to deliver a deciding blow...

Originally posted by Xoanon
I hate to admit that I have no resources to confirm if whether or not the Vikings actually used any weapons like this but when I saw that hole this
type of implement was the first thing that came to mind, Seems like an efficient way to deliver a deciding blow...

edit on 17-8-2012 by Xoanon because: .

A viking atgeir or some other polearm might do similar damage, but I'm not really sure what this 'viking' thing is about as the skull is reported
to be 2000 years old. The 'viking age' was really only the late 700s through to the mid 1000s and after the last migration age. Vikings aren't
really relevant to the OP's story other than it happened in Denmark. Using that logic, you might as well call anything that happened in 18th Century
Denmark 'viking' too.

Oh. Thank you for that, it was so informative. I gotcha, I have no historical perspective at all on the situation. Your post helps to draw it together
though. Hmmm, so that skull is from 300 years before what we would call the Vikings?

Oh. Thank you for that, it was so informative. I gotcha, I have no historical perspective at all on the situation. Your post helps to draw it together
though. Hmmm, so that skull is from 300 years before what we would call the Vikings?

edit on 17-8-2012 by Xoanon because:

No, it's probably more a case of 700 years: the skull being around 12 AD (roughly) and the 'Viking age' not really being acknowledged as really
starting until 787 AD (the date of the first recorded Viking raid - which hit the south coast of England).

'Viking' is a weird term that gets misused a lot. It doesn't refer to people from a particular area (Scandinavia) at a particular time (early
'middle-ages') ie anyone from Denmark, Sweden or Norway in the far past. Not everyone from Denmark &c was a viking, in the same way not everyone
from [insert the name of a rough town] is a rapist or a mugger. After a summer 'viking', people generally returned home to their farms, their
fishing boats or set up shop for a season of trading their newly acquired plunder.

Also, the 'viking age' is specific terminology and doesn't refer to other periods of Scandinavian violence and theft as its historically seen as a
response to a set of conditions: Charlemagne's Christianity campaigns across Northern Europe, collapse of Roman trade routes due to decline of the
Empire, a supposed population explosion &c. and in turn the 'viking age' created new, specific conditions: Danelaw in England, Siege of Paris,
Normandy &c.

Hello Smyleegrl. I saw this find as well over the last few days being discussed, and appeared to have open a similar Thread in the Ancient area. Your
thread/article didn't come up in the Search Engine which is pretty good at eliminating duplicate threads, but none the less, I find this to be a very
interesting situation that is being uncovered.

A few things here I noted, which seems to be lost.

The Area is 100 Acres!

That's not a Mass Grave, akin to what is found in the "Old East Block" or Africa and such. Those are persons piled in "Pits" and done so, in a
manner of Disposal. There was no Sacrificial Significance, (No SS Pun intended

) to what was done there.

This is an extremely different situation, which needs clear definition. Hopefully that will come in the days ahead.

Next is the premise of the Viking's, which has been discussed, but I would not dismiss these peoples from being involved in some form.

What we "KNOW" today as Historical, is only a reflection of what has been recorded in the past. The Vikings have a connection in some manner with
the Area being noted, and had to arrive in that region at some point in the past. I have never really seen an indicator ever presented as to when the
"Viking's" became the Viking's. These peoples may have been in this region from 400 BCE for all we know today.

What can be noted is the Force that is spread over the 100 Acre Site was a Fighting Force, which seemed to be equipped, but ended up Slaughtered,
by..........................................?

And due to the size of this area, they are not finding everyone. From your own link, it was noted

"We've done small test digs at different places in a 40-hectare (100-acre) wetlands area, and new finds keep emerging," Ejvind Hertz of
Skanderborg Museum, who is directing the dig, said.

This suggests there are many of these remains that are not being located and possibly will never be located.

Also while I was reviewing further materials, I found another Link
which spoke of this find along with other details of the region.

First, there is funding for this project

In 2011, a collaboration between Skanderborg Museum and University of Aarhus’ Department of Prehistoric Archaeology succeeded in gaining a 1.5
million DDK grant from the Carlsberg Foundation to begin a research project titled: The army and post-war rituals in the Iron Age - warriors
sacrificed in the bog at Alken Enge in Illerup Ådal.

Other discoveries at Alken Enge

The discovery of human skeletal remains at the Alken Enge location has come as no surprise. With several well-known sacrificial locations of
different character in the river valley of Illerup Ådal, also known as the "Holy Valley", there is no doubt that the area has been a focal point
for a wider hinterland as a place to conduct sacrificial rituals, which appear to have taken place regularly during the Iron Age. Forlev Nymølle is a
well-known ritual location where more every-day sacrifice patterns in the form of pottery, stone collections and various other manufactured wooden
objects have been found. One of these wooden objects has been interpreted as a female goddess figurine. It is thought that several of the other
excavated objects could have been sacrificed to this goddess.

Alken Wetlands is primarily interesting in connection with the discovery of sacrificed warriors, but there are also other sacrifices of various kinds
with various datings. Within the deposited peat layers in roughly the same horizon as the human remains, a discovery was made of three lanceheads in
iron and a shield of wood. The weapon finds are generally so few in number that they are not considered to have been sacrificed. In several horizons
there are large amounts of manufactured and raw wood. The manufactured wood consists of both wood planks and timber, both smaller and larger in
dimension. A myriad of more or less vertical sticks that have been hammered down are also found in the peat layers. Furthermore, pottery has been
discovered, which can be dated from the Early Pre-Roman Iron Age to Early Medieval. Moreover, several excavation sites were found to contain
sacrificed animal bones. In conclusion, the location of Alken Wetlands is thought to be a temporally very complex sacrificial location.

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